Chapter 463: Slaying the Enemy and Obtaining Treasure

"Bang!"

Zhou You stomped his foot, crushing the hoof of the Shaman Beast into a pulp.

Even with its thick hide and flesh, the massive creature could hardly endure the heart-piercing pain; it roared and raised its upper body, intending to attack.

The Shaman Ranger riding on its back gripped the mane with both hands, the totems on his body writhing and flowing as he desperately tried to tame the enraged Shaman Beast.

A fierce wind struck from behind his ears...

The hair on the Ranger's body stood on end—it was the familiar threat of death—and he raised his stone axe to swing wildly...

Amidst a deafening collision, a large bone fragment was chipped off the White Bone Hammer, which then flew back into Zhou You's sleeve.

The Shaman Beast beneath the Ranger lost its balance, roared, and toppled to the ground; the Ranger, in a sorry state, jumped down while holding his stone axe.

The stone axe in his hand was extremely crude: a large object that barely resembled an axe head was bound to a wooden stick.

This was a primitive weapon, crudely forged into shape from ore and sharpened into an axe.

Yet, it was this very stone axe that had chipped the White Bone Hammer, its durability comparable to a Hidden Charm treasure.

Don't let its ugly appearance fool you; it is a good item.

Zhou You took a liking to this stone axe; if melted down and crafted into a weapon, its texture would be superior to a hammerhead made from a skull.

He remembered that the Overlord Sculpture in Yanshan was forged from extremely rare minerals, capable of withstanding the fusion of two vastly different powers—Strong Martial and Calamity Charm—achieving the ninth rank on the Weapon Ranking.

Although there are exceptions like wooden sticks and jade swords, the mainstream materials for weapons in this world are inseparable from the five metals.

The five metals—gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, and other common minerals—but the world is vast and full of wonders, often hiding countless treasures deep underground, among which are rare and exotic mineral metals.

There are even meteorites falling from the sky, bringing meteoritic iron and star gold that do not exist on the ground.

If one could obtain precious and rare exotic metals, the weapons forged from them would definitely have the potential for upgrades.

The stone axe in the hands of the Shaman Ranger before him was a large piece of precious, exotic metal that did not belong to the five metals.

"Good, it's mine now. Hand it over!"

Zhou You tucked the White Bone Hammer into his sleeve and switched to empty-handed strikes, looking for an opportunity to snatch the opponent's stone axe.

The Ranger was quite cautious, swinging the stone axe so tightly that not even a gust of wind could pass through; if Zhou You dared to reach his palm in, it would be shredded instantly.

"Haha!"

Zhou You spotted an opening, his body swayed, and he split off into a Huhu Shuangxing Jiao to bind the opponent's surroundings.

His tiger-form hands hugged one of the Shaman Beast's legs and shook it, "Hungry Tiger Swallows the Sun, consuming without end."

Under his frantic devouring, the other front leg of the Shaman Beast shriveled rapidly and snapped with a crisp sound in the blink of an eye.

The Ranger was both shocked and enraged, raising his hand to strike down Zhou You, who was in mid-air in his crane form.

A crane's cry rang out.

Zhou You swooped down in his crane form, the bone joints below his waist instantly becoming as soft as noodles.

He rotated his legs, bypassed the stone axe, and locked onto the wooden handle and the Ranger's palm.

Limbs as soft as noodles and flexible joints—this was a capability only an Intermediate Martial Master possessed, yet the strength Zhou You had displayed since the beginning was that of a Primary Martial Master.

Because of this, the Ranger was caught completely off guard.

Zhou You locked the opponent's weapon and arm with his legs, then brought his claws together, tearing through more than half of the Ranger's thick neck.

Blood gushed like a fountain, and the Ranger's breathing whistled, blowing out large mouthfuls of bloody foam and flesh.

He was an Intermediate Martial Master, his vitality far exceeding Zhou You's; he did not die even with his neck more than half severed.

"Go to hell!"

At the brink of death, the hair on the Ranger's arms stood up like steel needles, shaking Zhou You's legs loose, and the stone axe slammed heavily into Zhou You's chest.

This was a desperate strike that exhausted all his remaining life force and strength; after landing it, the Ranger assumed Zhou You would surely die, closed his eyes in satisfaction, tilted his head, and breathed his last on the spot.

Zhou You flew backward for over a hundred meters, digging his feet into the soil to cushion the impact before finally coming to a stop. He reached out to touch his chest; his clothing instantly turned as fragile as dregs, falling away like ash. Looking at his chest, the Iron Feather battle robe was revealed to be worn underneath, bearing the traces of the violent strike just now.

Before setting out, Zhou You had repaired this battle robe and worn it, and now it had finally come in handy.

The Ranger's final attack was lethal; it was only by utilizing his Primordial Iron Garment while layering the defense of this Iron Feather battle robe that he had managed to withstand the heavy hammer blow to his chest.

Now he had finally won; the enemy was dead, and the stone axe was in his hands.

Zhou You picked up the stone axe, weighed it a few times, and reached out to stroke the massive piece of metal.

He poured his Qi and blood into the stone axe; under the scouring of Qi and blood far more potent than its original owner's, the impurities gathered into small beads and fell off.

This lump of exotic metal was truly extraordinary; even when struck by a volume of Qi and blood eight times that of an ordinary Primary Martial Master, it still had not reached its limit, with all the Qi and blood sinking into it like stones into the sea.

In other words, with Zhou You's current strength, it was still not enough to reach the upper limit of this object.

"Hmm?"

What surprised Zhou You even more was that the wooden handle, which he had originally thought useless, was actually a treasure as well.

This wooden stick was about 1.5 meters long, smooth and straight to the touch, and could be used alone as a short staff.

As he channeled Qi and blood into it, the internal structure of the wood was clearly presented before him; it actually guided the Qi and blood to flow along a specific trajectory on its own.

Zhou You was pleasantly surprised; this wooden stick was simply an excellent conductor for Qi and blood, and its toughness complemented the solidity of the stone axe.

A roar came from his ear; it turned out the Shaman Beast was dragging its half-crippled body, attempting to bite Zhou You to death to avenge its master.

"Random Strike."

Zhou You gripped the wooden stick and struck down with all his might, executing his own staff technique... Random Strike.

As the wooden stick struck, it bent into an arc; the force of the blow combined with the power of the wood's rebound directly silenced the Shaman Beast.

Its mountain-like body caved in where the stick landed, and the force passed through the Shaman Beast and slammed into the ground, causing the earth to shake.

In fact, the moment the wooden stick made contact, the Shaman Beast died on the spot.

"Good weapon."

Zhou You couldn't put the wooden stick down, treasuring it even more than the White Bone Hammer.

The White Bone Hammer had been through over a hundred battles, clashing head-on with other Qi and blood divine weapons, and was now covered in scars; the day it would be scrapped was not far off.

Weapons made of bone are just like that; unless one spends a high cost to replace parts with precious metals, they are very difficult to repair once damaged.

Zhou You's most proficient weapon art is staff technique, and now that his white bone hammer is about to be ruined, he has unexpectedly obtained a good wooden staff.

The joy of obtaining the wooden staff was even more intense than that of the large piece of strange metal from the stone axe.

"Master!"

Zuo Lv pushed aside the massive corpse of the Shaman Beast and held up an object to report.

"He has a leather booklet on him; take a look, is it a fist technique manual of the Shaman people?"

As soon as Zhou You took it in his hand, he recognized it as a Blood Merit Book, a testament to the battle merits of a powerful Shaman, and also a secret treasure.

He couldn't help but glance at the corpse of the roaming hunter; this person had a Blood Merit Book just like Ge Er Bu Han, so he was clearly no nameless nobody.

That said, Blood Merit Books are all made from Martial Master Skin; not to mention their intrinsic value, the materials themselves are very precious.

He tucked it into his sleeve, placing it together with Ge Er Bu Han's Blood Merit Book, waiting until he had time to study them.

As for the corpses of the roaming hunter and the Shaman Beast, they were both stored away by Zhou You into his Hunger Pouch.

Zuo Lv found an excuse to avoid the scene and only returned after Zhou You had finished.

Having spent a long time together, some things were already understood without being spoken, and they maintained a tacit agreement between them, with no need to point them out.

(End of chapter)